Innholdsfortegnelse for March 2023 i BIKE

Motorcycling characters don't come more gloriously crackers than Thorsten Schlesinger. The German product designer built this TriBSA (Triumph engine, BSA frame) as a tribute to an imaginary American, then made his own leathers and set off on a 2000-mile round trip to Biarritz, breaking down dozens of times… ‘It started by accident in 2008,’ Thorsten tells Bike. ‘I was at a friend's place and he had a frame from a 1949 BSA A10 lying around and he was talking about putting a Honda engine in it. I didn't like that - I thought it should have an English motor, so I asked him to sell it to me.' A few years later Thorsten is visiting relatives in America when he sees a 1972 oil-in-frame Triumph 650 engine for sale and…

ENGINE 2016 Yamaha R1 with a chipped ECU and a titanium straight-through exhaust, making 200bhp at the rear wheel. CHASSIS Handmade chromoly steel tube frame and swingarm are nickel-plated for an old school look. Swingarm is bonded to the billet aluminium rear axle carrier. The rear shock is an Öhlins TTX. A lot of modern cafe racers consist of a lot of cafe, and not much racer - they're just beautiful styling exercises, mimicking the look of those original Tritons, Manxes and Gold Stars. This one is different: it's powered by a tuned R1 engine and weighs just 180kg. ‘I’ ve always modified my bikes,’ Rob Catanese tells Bike, ‘and one day I was sitting in a bar with a friend talking about how we'd like a bike with modern…

[YOU'D DO THE SAME] » A heart-warming tale for the winter months. A vast £174,277 has been raised online for Adam White, who was sentenced to 22 months in prison for pursuing would-be bike thieves. White chased Taylor Benford and Ryan Paul after they tried to break into his property to steal his motocrosser and fled on another bike. The pursuit ended in a crash, and White was arrested and sentenced for causing serious injury by dangerous driving. Benford and Paul pleaded guilty to attempted burglary, but got away with suspended sentences. When White's story was broadcast on the surprisingly compelling telly programme 24 Hours in Police Custody, a ‘GoFundMe’ was set up online to help recoup his legal costs, with one donor giving £15,000.…

[ HAMMER TIME ] » This month's eye-rubbing auction results come from the latest hammer-bashing exercise by H&H. Supplying yet more proof that the cost-of-living crisis hasn't hit the purchasers of cool old motorcycles, the event saw successful bids of a combined £1.5 million. Star of the December auction was a 1973 MV Agusta 750 S, which sold forjust over £100,000, while another bidder bought a tired-looking watch that belonged to racer George Brough for a not-inconsiderable £6325. That's 633 Casios, with change to spare.…

We could start by talking about how CCM's new Heritage ’71 is the first production bike to be built with a titanium frame, or how weighing just 136kg means it feels more like an electric bicycle to push around than a crackling 600cc single cylinder café racer. But what impresses the most is the way it's screwed together. It's made by a small team in Bolton, but you'd think it had rolled out of HRC's race department. Things like the gaps between the dash and its shroud are millimetre perfect. The strap to hold the switchgear wiring to the ‘bars is stitched leather and the titanium exhaust is worthy of a place in an art gallery. The Heritage is, arguably, a lesson in minimalism but everywhere you look is delicious…

Thunderous big V-twins were at their height during the 1990s and early 2000s. Ducati started it all by kicking lots of four-cylinder bottoms in World Superbike with their oversize thudders, and soon Aprilia, Suzuki and Honda were all feeding us sporting tackle propelled by two flailing fat pistons. Period road tests gushed about the low-rev wallop of these big-bore delights, how they delivered such wild pace for such minimal input. Except they didn't, of course. At least not compared with KTM's 1290 Super Duke R, which covers ground with such effortless ease that it's like being able to throw concrete paving slabs around just using your little fingers. Several at a time, in fact. Before breakfast. Measuring 1301CC and squashing unleaded at a 13.6:1 compression ratio, KTM reckon their V-twin…

Buy a used Superveloce It's only been around a couple of years and MVs hold their money well, so you'll need to spend at least £16,000… » Early F3 800s had starter sprag clutch issues. The Superveloce shouldn't be affected, but listen for grumbles to be sure. » Check the display for fault codes, make sure all the electronics are behaving. » Check all the exotic-looking bare metal finishes are still immaculate. Coarse. That's the best word to describe MV's 798CC three-cylinder engine. At tickover there's a muted rumble from within and it emits a hollow drone from the stubby trio of slash-cut tailpipes. Graunching and gargling as you feed in drive, the triple transmits massive feel through the controls (and distinct sound to your lugholes) - and after the…

ROAD TEST BMW R100GS From the Bike archives BIKE 600TH ISSUE Established 1971 I never saw a purple cow, I never hope to see one But I can tell you, anyhow, I'd rather see than be one Gelett Burgess, 1866-1951 This is the second time I've tested the ‘91 GS. The first was for me; it was black and red and I liked it almost enough actually to buy it. This one's for you, and it's purple… For a colour that used to distinguish kings and emperors from the hoi-polloi, purple's had a pretty bad press lately. Shrinks tell us it's the classic manic-depressive colour, all gloomy despair and psychotic outbursts, particularly in combination with black. What they'd make of it in combination with black tyre marks across the buttocks of its…

From the Bike archives THE LONGEST TEST Bike 600TH ISSUE Established 1971 CALAIS 270. Let's hear it for lovely kilometres. They count down to zero so much faster than miles, lubricating seized knees and generally keeping other failing body parts interested as road signs deliver their good news. Calais 480, Calais 360, Calais 270. At lunch Calais was a depressingly distant 1200, with even Paris off the signs. Ahead of me photographer Chippy's BMW K1200LT mothership keeled into a head-jangling sidewind as we bashed through the scrubby heat of Mediterranean France. Home seemed a world away. Now we are cool and have the autoroute to ourselves, cracking on under a big empty sky across a big empty country. Dark visors still required at 10pm with our horizon blazing orange. Should make…

Adventure Withing down the entire west coast of Ireland, the Wild Atlantic Way (WAW) is the North Coast 500's harder, bendier, and more Guinnessy big brother. The 500-mile Scottish route is glorious but the Irish version takes things to a whole new level. For a start, at over 1000 miles it's more titan twice as long as the NC500. It might even be three times longer - the Irish tourist board says it's 1600 miles, various locals say it's 1300, but my mileometer ends up saying it's 1209. It seems to depend on how many little peninsulas you visit. Whatever. The main thing is it is a truly extraordinary route - not just because of the roads, cliffs, beaches, medieval banquets and pretty American ladies (more on the latter two…

FROM £4500 DUCATI'S BONNIE The Scrambler is to Ducati what the Bonneville is to Triumph, a family of friendly retro-styled bikes built around the same platform. At its most basic it is a fashion-conscious ‘first big bike’ door into Ducati world. Initially, four subtly different models were offered based on the same air-cooled 803cc V-twin with a tubular-steel trellis frame. To differentiate different seats, body panels, wheels, handlebars and so on were deployed. All Scramblers have a ‘budget’ element to them and they are assembled in Thailand to keep it all affordable. A blaze of hipster orientated promotion involving slogans such a ‘Land of Joy’ greased the marketing wheels. ‘L'OF A TWIN The Scrambler 800 is powered by an 803cc air-cooled, 90-degree, desmodromic V-twin in the classic Ducat manner-although the…

Harley-Davidson's Nightster and I have had a difficult relationship, and I'm approaching my last ride in the same way I embarked on my final session of marriage counselling: more in hope than expectation. The route of our problems centre around physical incompatibility lack of character and concerns around pricing (I'm talking about the Harley now… not me). Though the footpegs are roughly in the right place (ie, they're not the forward control ones), the saddle is so low and the ‘bars so far forward I still find the riding position deeply uncomfortable after 45 minutes. You're stretched out in a way that puts intense pressure on your lower back, and after a four-hour day in the saddle I needed two osteopath sessions to stop me whimpering every time I bent…

Know How [Weird & Wonderful] Harley have produced their fair share of left-field offerings over the years. There was the 1971 SuperGlide, a mash-up of a Sportster front and ‘Glide rear to create the first ‘factory custom’. 1977's XLCR café racer resembled a two-wheeled JPS Lotus 72 but was as rapid and refined as a John Deere, and more recently there's been the VR1000, V-Rod and LiveWire, to name just five. But these are all middle-of-the-road core products next to the 1960-65 Topper: the one and only scooter by America's number one. This fully enclosed 165CC two-stroke was built to capitalise on the fashion for all things Vespa and Lambretta and to make the most of a burgeoning youth market. Perhaps unexpectedly, the fabulously named Topper was nothing to do with…

[CAN YOU HEAR ME?] » Perhaps because they realised some of their displays and operating systems are a tad befuddling, last year Honda introduced voice control on bikes with phone connectivity. You get it on the CB1000R, Forza scooters and funktastic X-ADV, as well as the new CB750 Hornet and XL750 Transaip, allowing you to control the sat-nav and interfere with your phone just by speaking (assuming you have headset}. Previously it only worked if you have an Android device, but Honda have now rejigged the widget so that it works with Apple as well (iOS 14 and higher). In order to confuse pedestrians and other traffic by appearing to talk to yourself at traffic lights, you'll need to get the necessary Honda RoadSync app from the App Store or…

CCM Heritage ‘71 Clews Competition Machines was founded by Alan Clews in 1971 - the same year that the first Bike magazine went on sale. And just as we're tucking into cake and wearing silly hats to celebrate our 600th issue, so CCM are honouring their golden jubilee with this: the new Heritage ‘71. You won't need your fingers and toes to work out that 1971 is more than 50 years ago. CCM first revealed the anniversary model in 2021, but the after effects of covid and the supply problems impacting all manufacturers caused a delay. But now the Heritage is nearing production. And it was worth the wait. The existing Spitfire and its derivatives have been a huge success for the tiny Bolton brand, with around 2500 examples of the…

Group test Despite its glorious paint scheme this isn't a Team Kawasaki France works ZXR-7 TT FI race bike. Despite being over six-foot there's no way anybody would confuse me with ‘Too Tall’ Terry Rymer, and I'm definitely not about to win the 1992 Le Mans 24 Hour (while not on my way to a World Endurance title). But I bloody well feel like I could be. Not because I'm a riding hero - I struggle to stay awake beyond 10pm these days, let alone cope with hurling a bike around a track all night - but because of how damn fabulous the current ZX-10R feels. I've not ridden the big Ninja for a few years and had forgotten how precisely it steers, how the classy chassis floods its rider…

July 1988 was the first issue of Bike that I ever bought. I didn't intend to. I was on holiday in North Wales and the local newsagent didn't stock my usual magazine, and Bike seemed the next best option. It wasn't. Actually it was far better, with authority, depth and a standard of writing I'd previously never encountered. The mag has always been, and continues to be, the home of motorcycling's greatest stories. It takes you on exciting journeys, brings you the most important and intriguing metal, lets you sneak under the velvet rope. Introduces you to nutters, too. And it's thanks to the best writers, journalists, photographers and designers in the galaxy. To mark 600 editions of Britain's most popular bike publication, we've asked a motley rabble of former…

BIKE 600TH ISSUE Estalished 1971 From the Bike archives ‘Bury me here. Wake me up next year . . .’ Thus spake a member of Team Bike, on his knees in the white dust. Nearby a litre bottle of Kronenbourg gently gurgled out its contents as it slipped from his grasp. In the distance fours wailed, twins grumbled and a two stroke screamed as they were forced through the gears for the thousandth time. The smell of highly spiced sauages spluttering over charcoal braziers mingled with a whiff of hot oil and charred brake pads, sharply contrasting the natural fragrance of a Provencal night. It was four o'clock in the morning at Circuit Paul Ricard and he was quite literally in paradise. we all were. This is the Bol d'Or. I…

The greatest engine BIKE 600TH ISSUE Established 1971 When editor Armitage asked me if I wanted to write something in which I could decide what is the best bike engine ever I was initially very enthusiastic. Now, having started, I'm more concerned. I'm aware I'm probably going to upset a load of people here, both in the approach and choice - and the omissions. So, casting any long-term journalistic ambitions on the fire, here goes… Firstly, there have been many great engines put in bikes down the ages. But a motorcycle is a very specific form of application for mankind's greatest invention. The engine is an inherent part of the package, in fact in engineering terms it dominates it. But this doesn't mean that an engine engineer can just produce…

£600 for a 600 Bike 600TH ISSUE Established 1971 Six-hundred quid doesn't buy what it used to. These days it'll get you a slip-on end can for a BMW R1250GS, a top of the range helmet, or a not-the-latest-model iPhone. When Bike first hit the newsstand in 1971 it'd buy a large sought-after motorcycle. In our maiden issue the Norton Commando cost £595 and the BSA Rocket 3 was £666, and this made us curious. With this being our 600th birthday issue, can you still buy a desirable bike for £600? Stood in crisp December sun and gawping at the Kawasaki ZZ-R600 that's been flinging me down favourite old roads all morning, I'd say ‘yes’. You most definitely can. We're big fans of the lower end of the used bike…

Ratchet spanners Work on bikes for long enough and eventually you get to a nut or bolt which is so tucked away that, seemingly, nothing can undo it-there'snot enough angle to use a conventional spanner and not enough headroom for a socket and ratchet. On my Triumph Sprint it was one of the chain guard bolts, and that's why I got these (Machinemart.co.uk, £23.98). After using one of them to sort out my immediate problem, I've since discovered the other big advantage over conventional spanners: speed. Because of the ratchet, it's much quicker to get nuts on and off. Pro mechanics will no doubt scoff at the Clarke's plastic casing, but I've been chucking them about for a year and they're hardly marked. machinemart.co.uk…

[Overlooked] Developed under the old cash-strapped Guzzi regime, 1999's first 1064cc big twin V11 Sport mimicked the 1971 V7 Sport with a red frame and green paint. It suffered underwhelming performance and iffy quality, but this changed when Aprilia took Guzzi over in April 2000. Improving quality and components, they rattled out a series of V11 s ranging from the 2000 Sport Scura with posh Brembos, Öhlins and headlamp cowl, via the half-faired Le Mans to 2002's gorgeous Tenni. In four years over a dozen versions were built before Piaggio took over in 2004 and the V11 disappeared. They're all heavy, not very fast and a bit crude, but each is stacked with Guzzi charm. Prices are rising with a decent mid-ranger now coming in at £6k. Get in quick.…

[Watching] ‘A fantastically surreal ending involving gaint salami violence’ Macau: making the TT seem tame » If you thought TT onboards were dramatic you have to see this. It's from 2015 and is the raw footage from the fairing of Peter Hickman's BMW S1000RR, charting his progress from fourth at the first corner through to the win. Making it even more astonishing is that this was only Hicky's second ever visit to Macau. Mind-boggling. YouTube search: https://www.youtube.com/ Off shore: crap amphibious bike » Remember when Robbie Maddison surfed waves on a high-tech amphibious motocross bike? Well, this is the opposite. Basically, a bloke with an old Suzuki DR650 inflates two big tubes with his exhaust, straps them to the bike with tie-downs then rides into a lake… YouTube search: https://www.youtube.com/…

Clarke mechanic's seat Used for: five months Price: £107.98 Info: machinemart.co.uk » If you've reached the age when the idea of going to a pub where you can't sit down has all the appeal of a night out with Dominic Raab, then this seat is for you. I'd previously used a little camping chair to perch on while undertaking knee-high jobs, but have to admit this is a lot better. The wheels mean I can scoot across the shed to grab tools without getting up, and the can holder and tray on the other side help stop parts and clutter going evenywhere. It's got three drawers too which are useful if you're removing loads of nuts, bolts and small parts because you can keep them safely in order. £108 might…

RIDERS Randy Mamola famously didn't like that the XR69, calling it ‘the diesel’, but Mick Grant and Graeme Crosby have said it's one of their all-time favourite race bikes. In fact Granty still has the XR69 he raced. ENGINE Original XR69s had GS1000 engines - 997cc, air-cooled, eight valves - that were vigorously tuned to take them from 88bhp to 130bhp. This replica uses the slightly later 16-valve GS1100 motor. FRAME Original GS1000 frames wobbled when road riding so were befuddled by racing. Pops Yoshimura used chassis parts from Suzuki's grand prix program to beef it up. The replica has a T45 stainless steel tube frame. For fans of massive engines crammed into small, sweet-handling frames, the Suzuki GS1000R (aka XR69) racer has to be near the top of the…

‘It'll undercut every rival’ This handsome lump of motorcycle is the MBP T1002V. Not the catchiest of titles, granted, but the new V-twin adventure bike has much promise. Firstly, its spec and equipment list appear cock-on. And secondly, it's likely to be a bargain. MBP stands for Moto Bologna Passione. This obviously sounds Italian, and the firm's headquarters is indeed in the same town as a certain company called Ducati. However, MBP is an offshoot of Chinese brand Keeway, which is owned by Zhejiang Qianjiang Motorcycle - yes, the same QJmotor that also owns the thriving Benelli outfit. And this means the T1002V is the largest motorcycle yet to reach here from China. The recently revealed MBP range has 13 bikes (yes, thirteen) with everydiing from a 125CC scooter and…

[ EVERY DAY IS A SCHOOL DAY ] Think Ducati, think racy red sportsbikes… or not, of course. We prefer the Italian firm's Multistrada V4 adventure bike to the omnipresent BMW R1250GS and their go-anywhere DesertX is our 2022 Bike of the Year. And now Ducati are taking the next adventure step and looking to further disjoint BMW's nose with a range of off-road schools. Already running UK events for their track-focussed ensemble, the Bologna brand has muck-flinging riding schools in the works for the Multistrada and DesertX line-up. We've no doubt that the bikes will be surprisingly handy - we gave a Multistrada 1200 to Dakar-ist Simon Pavey a few years ago and it didn't bat an eyelid at being flung around a motocross track. ‘It will not happen…

‘Riding position nestles you in behind the deeply scalloped tank and twin dials’ The first thing one has to understand about these bikes is that they are specifically high-speed touring bikes and, with the possible exception of the bigger BMWs, unsurpassed as such.’ Clearly quite a lot has changed in fifty-two and a half years. When our founding editor Mark Williams scribed these words for the Giant Test in the first Bike in early summer 197I, the 745CC overhead-valve, twin-cylinder Norton Commando was the largest-capacity’ model from one of Britain's two largest factories. At a time when Brit iron still ruled this ‘master roadburner’ was as big, fast and long-legged as motorbikes got. Here in early 2023 the revamped Commando 96I SP from the revitalised firm is a period throwback;…

Bike 600TH ISSUE Established 1971 BLOODY ITALIANS. They seem able to do nothing wrong. While Ducati conquers all before it — you can't buy a 916 for love or money — Aprilia is striding confidently into the big time with its new Moto 6.5 and World Superbike V-twin engine shown for the first time at the Bologna Show (see page 13) — not to mention its rip-roaring RS250. Cagiva has its 650 Canyon and is putting the finishing touches to its own Ferrari-powered WSB contender. And then there's BMW, Honda and Yamaha, who all have big manufacturing interests there. On the other hand there's Moto Guzzi, about which, probably, the least said the better; Gilera, after a promising rebirth, has been consigned to the great motorcycling mausoleum in the sky…

The best tyres for winter are sports-touring radials, primarily because they've got a very high silica content (rather than carbon black which is used in more track-orientated tyres). This gives them excellent wet weather grip, and also allows the tyres to work much better when it's cold. A less well known reason for choosing a sports-touring tyre in winter is it's likely to have sipes. ‘These are very fine slits in the tyre,’ says Tony Charlton from Michelin, ‘When a slit edge comes into contact with the road, it creates a very high pressure point and that cuts through any film of grime or moisture to give you grip. The action is the same in slush, so you'll get better grip there too.’ So why don't racing wets use them?…

TAKEN FROM BEHIND The 800's round tail light reminds me of Hal, the evil computer from 2001: A Space Odyssey. Beautiful lines are topped by a pillion seat smaller than a mouse mat. I've yet to convince anyone to sit on it. Test bike has an accessory tail tidy - better than the stock swingarm affair. LISTEN TO THIS At tickover the MV sounds rubbish but properly activate the triple, hit the redline and the Superveloce starts to play a much more devilish tune. Sadly the heat shield, though neatly sculptured, is getting marked by my boots. TOO HARD FOR UK ROADS, BUT… The suspension is too firm for UK roads - when you get a jog on down a bumpy B-road you get fired out the seat. Road tester…

The A39: a holiday in itself The Atlantic Highway can furnish an entire holiday in the South West. Get top-notch pasties from Geevor Tin Mine cafe on the B3306, and take your pick of ice-cream and coffee in St Ives (also a good pint in the Sloop). Best fish and chips? Head for Lynmouth's Esplanade Fish Bar, it's mega. It's easy to convince your significant other that a trip along Somerset, Devon and Cornwall's Atlantic (High) Way is worth it. Labelled as the less-glamorous-sounding A39 on a map, almost every turn off this coastal road takes you to somewhere that's intriguing or just a jolly nice place to be. You can pop along to Tintagel Castle where you'll find yourself whisked back in time by a few hundred years (and…